Sona verdict: PPSC demands more jail time, but allows ringleaders to go free

The Council of Canadians asks PPSC to re-open robocalls investigation

Ottawa — The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) is appealing the sentence of Michael Sona, seeking more jail time “to reflect the gravity of the offence.” In response, the Council of Canadians is filing a formal complaint with the PPSC to re-open the investigation and charge the ringleaders of the election fraud campaign.

The Council of Canadians is questioning why the PPSC appears to have given up on finding the person or persons who “pulled the trigger” on the misleading and fraudulent 2011 phone calls.
“If the offence is severe enough to appeal for a stronger sentence in Michael Sona’s case, it’s severe enough to re-open the investigation to find the actual ringleaders of the crime,” says Council of Canadians’ Democracy Campaigner Dylan Penner. “How can the prosecution be this concerned with Sona getting off with a light sentence, yet seem entirely unconcerned that the main perpetrators are still at large?”

On several occasions, the Council of Canadians has called on the Commissioner of Canada Elections to re-open the investigation into the widespread election fraud that took place in 2011. The Council has filed a formal complaint outlining the abundant evidence and potential avenues for further investigation. The investigation has since been called off.

According to a media report, a spokesperson for the Commissioner stated that re-opening the investigation would require a formal complaint and that their knowledge, there was no such complaint. Yet the Commissioner’s office had already received and responded to the Council of Canadians’ formal complaint.

“The gravity of the offence should compel the re-opening of the Commissioner’s investigation. The prosecutor and the judge in the Sona case made it clear that Sona did not act alone. Even Dean Del Mastro is saying the same thing,” says Garry Neil, Executive Director of the Council of Canadians. “It could not be clearer: there were others behind this effort to subvert the last election. The Commissioner of Canada Elections has failed to live up to his responsibility to re-open the investigation to get to the bottom of this, which leaves the Public Prosecution Service with the obligation to do so.”

“Either Conservative Party senior leaders were directly involved in election fraud or they were astoundingly negligent in securing access to their voter database,” says Penner. “Voters have a right to know what happened and who was behind this attack on democracy.”

The Council of Canadians supported the legal challenges to overturn election results in six ridings.